Here's another shirt I had from pregnancy that I loved but it just didn't fit right without the baby bump. I found a shirt that I really liked on pinterest but I couldn't find a tutorial for it, so this is what I came up with. I really like how the shirt turned out.
I started out by disassembling the shirt. I removed the pockets, the sleeves and the collar at the seams. Then I cut straight across at the armpits to separate the top from the bottom of the shirt. Since I had to remove pockets off the front, I couldn't use that part of the shirt because you could see where both the pockets sat on the shirt. Luckily, this shirt had enough fabric in the back to make up for the ruined front. I ended up with the pieces shown on the right.
I took my front piece and drew the neckline and the arm hole lines. This is what you end up with after you cut them out
Pin the front to the back and use it as a template to get the same lines as your front. Also cut the middle strip from the back of your shirt so you have 2 even long strips.
I wanted to add lace in the sides to give it a little peek-a-boo flair to it, so I cut 2 pieces that were 2" wide and a little bit longer than my top pieces.
Pin your long strips to the bottom of your top with the right sides together. Sew and zigzag the bottom seam. You should have 2 of the picture shown to the right.
Pin the hem around the neck on the back piece and pin around all the arm pits. Sew all your seams.
Take one of the sleeves and cut a long strip about 3" wide and as long as you want your ruffle. Zigzag the top and bottom and then hem only the bottom.
Start pinning the pleat in your ruffle. Try to get them as even as possible. When you have them all pinned, run a quick straight stitch over the top of your pleats to lock them into place.
Pin your ruffle to the neckline on the front of your top and pin the hem on the inside of the straps. (The part of the strap that isn't connected to the ruffle. It might get tricky to hem super close to the ruffle but tuck as best you can)
Don't forget to zigzag over the top of the ruffle so that your neckline doesn't come unraveled.
Stitch your lace into each side of your top. I zigzagged and hemmed the top to match the hemline on the rest of the shirt. When you have both sides stitched to the lace, trim the lace to be even with the bottom of the shirt.
Pin the longest piece to the bottom of your top. Be sure to add pleats as you pin so that you don't end up with a ton of extra fabric at the back of your shirt. After you've gotten it all pinned, sew and zigzag all around.
For the straps, mine weren't long enough for the shirt to sit right, so I cut 2 strips and hemmed them to the width of my straps.
Sew and zigzag to your top. (I pinned my straps before I sewed them and put the dress on so I could adjust the fit accordingly. After you finish stitching, Iron the seam flat and then stitch in place.
I found that my straps weren't even (as you can see in the picture above) so I made some bows to cover them. I cut out 2 big strips and 2 small strips and hemmed them the same way we did with the straps. I folded the bows and sewed them up the middle to get them to keep their shape. Then I took the small strips and sewed them around the bow, making sure to cover the stitch.
I attached them to the front of each strap to cover my mistake and give a little extra girly flair.
Ta-Da! Throw a tank underneath with a pair of skinnies and you're good to go!
I'd love to see your finished projects! Send them to me at BeeBeeandJack@gmail.com!
Happy Crafting!!
I chose 2 colors of embroidery floss. Starting with your first color, pick a good starting point and hot glue down one end. Wrap the floss around the bracelet, gluing as you go. I glued after every 1/4 inch to be sure the floss would stay in place.
When your bracelet has cooled completely, take your clear nail polish and paint on a nice, even coat to seal the strings to the bracelet. Make sure you let it dry completely before you wear it around otherwise you might end up stuck to your bracelet.
